clarity

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"Sir, you can't go in there." The chick from the desk he had walked blithely past still trailed behind him, sometimes close enough to grab at his jacket and tug futilely in a vain attempt to stop him. Not a chance, once she'd told him where the meeting had been taking place, he'd made a beeline for it. He'd been trying for days to track Alyx down and had ended up calling in a favor from Bobby, who had produced a miracle and confirmed she was not only in DC, but had a meeting scheduled for today. After that it had been up to him to get in the door.

He had that covered, and had the visitor's badge clipped to his collar for all to see.

"Agent Fawkes, please," the woman pleaded. Those they passed didn't appear to be overly concerned and seemed content to go about their day with only a glance or two in his direction. He found the conference room and, without bothering to knock, pulled the door open. All eyes inside swung to him.

"You could have just told me, you know," he said as the chair Alyx sat in spun around.

"Agent Silver, I am so sorry, he refused to wait until your meeting had finished."

"It's all right, Melina. We'll deal with this," Alyx said, her eyes not leaving Darien's.

He leaned against the doorframe, just watching her, waiting for her to make the next move. She, however did nothing, instead Mike spoke up, "Clear the room. We'll try again 0900 tomorrow."

The dozen or so who'd been seated about the table closed their laptops and files, gathered their belongings and left without a word. Mike flipped the lights back on and turned off the computer projecting data up on the screen. He looked irritated as all get out, though Darien wasn't sure if it was because of the interrupted meeting or his presence. Only one way to find out.

"So, any chance you have an opening for a uniquely skilled spy?"

Mike growled loud enough to be heard across the room. "Why would we offer you a job?" He shook his head. "Go back to your Agency where you belong."

"Can't. I quit." He broke eye contact with Alyx to look at Mike. "I've made my choice."

"And you think that makes a difference now?" Mike snapped. "You've done enough damage."

Darien ran a hand through his hair. He had hoped have this discussion alone with Alyx, but couldn't fault Mike in his need to protect her, after all Darien had made every effort to do as much damage as possible, coming to his senses over a year ago, and then spent a fair portion of that year just fucking things up even more. Apologies would be a useless gesture; he needed to prove to her he meant every word he said.

He'd had his moment of clarity when talking to Hobbes, and after that, the decision had been an easy one. Darien would make his life with her, spend all of it correcting the mistakes he had made and being the person she saw with those glorious eyes of hers.

"Not arguing the point, but she did kinda send me the invite to this party," Darien pointed out, though based on the look on Mike's face he had no idea what she'd been up to.

Mike's hands balled into fists for a long moment, his entire demeanor suggesting that if there hadn't been a good eight feet separating them he'd have thrown a punch without hesitation. "You have no idea what you have done to her over the last year, how badly you've fucked her up. She's just begun to recover after your last asinine move and you choose to show up now? If you cared about her at all you would have just stayed away and let her live her life."

Darien had actually considered that, staying away, giving her a chance to not be burdened with him, to not have to deal with his constant stupidity and self-doubt. But he had made a promise and intended to keep it. "Don't you think she should be the one to decide?"

Mike snorted. "Like any of her decisions where you are concerned have been wise." He rubbed his face with one hand; the glare aimed at Darien a deadly one. "You are the worst thing that ever happened to her and she's too blind to see it."

Mike was wrong on that score, Jessup had been the worst thing to happen to her no matter that he had given her four amazing children. The pain she had suffered, the loss of her sense of self, her inability to trust for long months, had been that bastards fault and not Darien's. "You're wrong. I saved her. I showed her she could care again."

"And then you threw it back in her face," Mike snarled. "You ripped her apart because she said no and you were too self-absorbed to consider she might have her reasons for not wanting to marry you."

"And I apologized. It was her choice to take me back." And he still thanked god every day that she had even though they hadn't spoken in six months at this point.

"And that worked out just so well," Mike sneered. "What reason could you possibly have for coming here? More false promises and mental torture? That is what you're best at, right? Suck her back in for a few more weeks or months and then shove her away again when you get bored?" His fist slammed into the heavy conference table hard enough to rock it. Maybe more than just physical contact behind the movement, though Darien had no recollection of Mike being a telekinetic.

"Bored? I've never been bored with her." Darien broke eye contact with her brother to look at the floor between his feet, shaking his head. "Most of the time I have no idea why she chose me. Aside from being stuck together, that is." He lifted his head to meet her heavy gaze, the look on her face a complete blank, emotions carefully guarded within. "I know she cares about me beyond all reason, which, even I have to admit, is more than a touch insane, but…" He rubbed the back of his head, hoping to say this right the first time. "I was broken when we met, hell, I'd been broken for a long time and never even realized it. You'd been ripped from your life. Our meeting… our entire relationship could have been a tragedy written by Shakespeare himself, but without you… I'd still be broken. You were my remedy and I had no way of knowing that until you came into my life… the second time."

He reached into his pocket, fumbling past the keys and coins and scraps of paper to pull out a ring. One he'd put a tremendous amount of thought into before purchasing. Not a single diamond anywhere on it. A simple platinum band with two hands clasping a heart that wore a crown. The heart was made up of two stones, one ruby and one emerald. It was not an engagement ring, not in the traditional sense anyway.

He held it up, somewhat disappointed at the lack of reaction he saw on her face. "I want to be your partner. In work and play. To become part of your family. I… You make me a better person and… and I think I do the same for you."

Alyx didn't even blink. Mike, however, swore.

Loudly.

"Fuck. There goes a hundred dollars." He sighed heavily, the anger and irritation gone. "If it wasn't for the fact that I know you haven't been in his head since he told you to stay away I'd swear you cheated."

"Uh, what?" Darien asked in utter confusion. "Wait? You two bet on me showing up with a ring and not proposing?"

Mike nodded. "I expected the ring, didn't figure you'd learned your lesson on the marriage subject. That one's going to be touchy for a while yet."

Darien felt the sudden need to sit down. "I've been played?" He sure as hell hoped not, 'cause that would make his sacrifice a pointless one. He'd walked away from his best friend, which had been damn hard to do, for a chance to have a better life and then… this.

"No. Or not like you're thinking. She knew you would come once you'd settled things in San Diego." Mike explained, which didn't really ease Darien's confusion all that much.

"Alyx?"

She got to her feet and walked over to him. She still hadn't said a word since assuring the desk chick that they would handle things. Once before him and looking up to meet his eyes she shrugged. "You promised."

"Yeah, I did," he agreed, "but how did you know I'd keep it."

"Because I kept mine and stayed away. Completely."

And she had, he had to admit that. Even on those few occasions he'd broken down, his need for her overriding his every effort to stay away to save her she had not responded. He lived in the back of her head and she'd found the strength to ignore him, to block him from her mind because he had asked her to.

Damn, was there nothing she wouldn't do for him?

No, there wasn't and he'd only recently come to realize this. An entire lab created just to save him from a life he thought he hated. To get the gland out of his skull and free him from his bondage to the Agency.

He lifted the ring up, rotating it slightly between his fingers. "So, partners?"

"For as long as you want me," she answered.

He grasped her right hand, those emotions she'd been so carefully hoarding within suddenly bursting across his senses and making his knees weak with the power of them. He somehow kept steady, letting it all roll across him as he slipped the ring into place. He'd done his homework. Right hand, heart in to signify being taken, left for engagement or marriage. "You let me know if you ever want this on the other hand, but I don't need it." He leaned down to kiss her gently. "You want to be with me and that is what is important."

"Least he's capable of learning," Mike muttered, mostly to remind them he was still in the room Darien suspected.

"Now that is a bold assumption," Darien stated, as he met the man's eyes. He was smiling, which had to be a good sign. "The 'Fish is gonna be pissed. He swore he was gonna get me blackballed so I'd be forced to crawl back to him."

Alyx laughed softly, while Mike quirked an eyebrow.

"Still trying to manipulate the universe to play the game his way?" Alyx asked rhetorically.

"Always," Darien agreed. "You should have heard the threats he made against you, said he was gonna have you back under his thumb soon, but I figured you could defend yourself against him considering you already got out."

She stepped away and settled back in her chair still laughing.

Darien looked at Mike. "Do I want to know why she's in a giggle fit over this? Especially since I really don't think the Official was kidding. The Agency might be a pit, but he does have some power."

Mike looked to Alyx first. "He must have heard rumors and got them wrong." He settled on the edge of the table next to his sister. "This is going to be interesting."

Darien could tell something was going on, but clearly did not have all the pieces to put it together. "Is… is the Agency moving in on your task force or something?"

"Or something would be accurate," Alyx answered, one hand rubbing her face.

"Darien, the Official can be as pissed and threatening as he wants, but from here on out he'll be answering to her." Mike waved at Alyx who simply looked up at Darien with a smug smile on her face. "That's what this meeting was about. Settling the final details on altering the task force to actual agency status."

"Uh... I think I need to sit down," Darien mumbled, then fumbled for the nearest chair. He took a couple of minutes to process what he'd just heard before speaking again. "So let me see if I've got this straight, your task force needs to expand and you're doing so by taking over the crappiest agency the US government has? Are you nuts?"

"No, she's not," Mike assured him even though Darien didn't buy it for a hot second.

"D, this mess goes far deeper than anyone thought possible and some of the connections lead back to… to other forces that still remain undiscovered by most."

It took Darien a second to process what she was trying to say without saying. He focused on that connection between them hoping he hadn't forgotten how to perform this little trick. *Are you talking Chrysalis?*

She nodded. "It's all tied together, and it's going to take some serious power to untangle the knots. The Agency has the intel, we have the funding, and, after the meeting tomorrow, we'll have a mandate to do what is necessary to take all of it down."

Darien sighed heavily. "So I'll be working for the 'Fish anyway. Officialed yet again."

Alyx leaned forward to set a hand on his arm. "No, you'll be working with him." She glanced over at her brother who shrugged. "Yes, I might assign you to the left coast for a time, but more because you know the area best. Our work is international - no choice there given how far this poison has spread - so you won't be spending all your time there. I'll probably have the Official and Drake run the office there, but all major assignments will go through me."

Darien felt about as stunned as he could be. Had this been her plan all along? Gain her own agency designed around her abilities and personal goals? Quite possible he had to admit. She could play the long game as well as anyone, including the Official. But could she really have pushed this through on her own. He had thought she'd been hired to this particular task force. Could things have changed that much over the last few months they'd been out of contact? Comments she had made here and there flitted through his mind; non-answers to straight questions that might suggest this job offer she had taken had been anything but. "You've been in charge from the get-go haven't you?"

"Damn. There goes another hundred," Mike grouched. "He's a fucking natural at this. No wonder you wanted him in."

Alyx laughed. "I tried to warn you it was a suckers bet, but you refused to listen. It's a perspective difference is all, and he definitely has the brains."

Darien felt like he had a bad case of whiplash. She had been in charge all along, calling all the shots, making all the decisions and patiently making all her moves behind the scenes to acquire all the pieces she needed or wanted to complete the job. A job he ultimately suspected had nothing to do with the spy biz. "How long have you been planning all this?"

"Seriously planning?" she asked, and he nodded. "Since a month after you walked out."

Okay, he couldn't really blame her for that given his over the top level of dickheadedness at the time. "And less seriously?"

"Since hooking up with Duke."

Darien shook his head, amazed but not overly surprised. Duke had offered her a job back then, and she hadn't taken it, but it had clearly given her ideas on how she wanted to continue her life as a spy. "You don't think small, do you?"

She simply quirked an eyebrow, while Mike snorted in clear amusement.

"She does have the occasional overcompensation issue," her brother stated, causing her to smack him on the arm hard enough to make him wince in pain and rub the spot. "Since she found out the truth about her marriage this has been her goal."

Darien shook his head. "No, she wants to take them down. Much like the 'Fish wants to do with Chrysalis." It just made sense. While she had learned to live with her abilities, she wanted no one else to have to suffer as she had. Though even she would admit the theory that had led to her gifts had the potential to do good, if used responsibly, they also held the potential for great abuse, much as the QS Project. She wanted to control the potential of the QSX Project just as the Official wanted to control the Quicksilver. He tapped a finger on the table. "You think they're working together?"

Mike grinned. "We think a whole lot of things that you don't need to worry about right now."

Darien turned back to Alyx, the seriousness he felt surely easily seen on his features. This was a big deal, a life-changing deal, and a lot more than he'd been expecting when he'd barged in here. "Will this get you back with your kids sooner rather than later, and by that I mean before Dani is an adult?"

Alyx nodded. "That's the plan."

"Then I'm in," he said, meaning it. And he did. She needed her family, all of them, and if he could help facilitate that he would, in a heartbeat. "Where do I start?"

Mike snorted. "Tomorrow. Get out of here, I'll handle the rescheduling." He looked from one to the other. "You two need some alone time."

"Mike-"

He shook his head. "You might think you can focus now, but with the vibes my sis is giving off she's going to last all of thirty minutes then be useless. So, go. There is nothing happening today that can't wait."

Darien nodded, got to his feet and held out his hand to Alyx.

She sat there for a long moment, indecision about them coming through loud and clear though nothing showed on her face. He went with honesty. "I can't promise everything will be perfect from here on out, but I promise to try."

"I can't ask for more," she said softly as she took his hand and slowly stood up.

"Just don't be late for the meeting. Plan A is officially on the table."

Darien chuckled. "And what if I hadn't shown up?"

Mike shrugged. "Absorbed with the Agency."

"And if I'd had the gl- my better half removed?"

Alyx squeezed his hand. "Planned for. This is me, remember?"

He kissed her. "Always. Dinner?"

She laughed. "It's not even noon."

"Yeah, well, you are going to be otherwise occupied for the next several hours. Dinner will be late." He cupped her cheek with his free hand, watched as her eyes slid shut as she leaned against his palm. "I know it's been a long road to get here, but I want to keep travelling it together."

Mike sighed heavily. "Get out before she starts broadcasting to the entire metro area."

Alyx ducked her head before turning to shoot a glare at her brother. "Fine, we're out of here. Make certain the lid stays on till tomorrow."

"I will," he shooed them out of the room, "now scoot."

They made it to his rental car before she gave in and that wall she'd tried to keep up collapsed. That spot in the back of his head that connected him to her had woken up when she'd taken his hand back in the conference room, but there hadn't been much to feel since. He hadn't realized she'd been carefully controlling her emotions, though he understood why the moment that levee burst.

He came up for air some time later, his hands buried in her hair, hers under his shirt, the skin on skin contact just as electrifying as he remembered. This had been hard on her, staying away, but the results… worth every lonely night.

"Never again. I'm not leaving you… us ever again," he told her, voice tight and hoarse with all the tangled emotions both of them felt.

She gazed up at him, eyes bright and simply said, "I know."

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finis